Uganda May Reintroduce Executions – President Museveni

Uganda could begin enforcing the death penalty again, President Yoweri Museveni has said, 13 years after the country’s last execution.

Mr Museveni said his “Christian background” had prevented him from going ahead with executions, but this “leniency” was encouraging criminals.

Human rights groups have warned against the move.

In Uganda, 28 offences merit the death penalty, the highest in east Africa. Some 278 people are on death row.

“I have not been assenting to hanging of convicts because of my Christian background but being lenient is causing people to think they can cause harm and get away with it,” President Yoweri Museveni wrote on Twitter.

He also said he would “hang a few” at a graduation ceremony for prison wardens in Kamapala on Thursday.

“The police are very weak with no capacity to investigate crimes extensively. As a result, you find serious failures in the systems.”

In recent years crime has risen, with 20 women murdered in four months in the capital Kampala last year. Some critics say police put more effort into targeting President Museveni’s opponents than into catching criminals.

However, other observers suggested Mr Museveni may not be serious about restarting executions.